Check out Ashley Vance’s biography of Musk. One anecdote that sticks out in my memory is he was both scientifically knowledgeable enough and knee-deep enough in

Check out Ashley Vance’s biography of Musk. One anecdote that sticks out in my memory is he was both scientifically knowledgeable enough and knee-deep enough in what SpaceX was doing to realize that they didn’t need to buy a certain hundred dollar (or something) existing part to use it for their rockets because they could make their own that did the specific thing they needed it to do for a few cents.